Drivers heading north on Highway 101 who want to get on the bridge to get to the East Bay have two options: use East Sir Francis Drake Boulevard in Larkspur or take the Bellam Boulevard off-ramp in San Rafael.

Both involve exiting the freeway and passing through city streets before getting onto I-580. The lack of a direct freeway-to-freeway connector from northbound Highway 101 to eastbound I-580 helps vex an already troublesome northbound traffic pattern in Marin during the evening commute.

Thousands of cars queue up on Highway 101 to use the Marin exits and jam city streets, in particular on East Sir Francis Drake in front of the Larkspur Ferry Terminal.

“There can’t be many high-volume freeways that make the commuters exit a freeway, be forced to take a city street to get back onto a freeway,” said Corte Madera resident A.J. Shepard, who avoids the area after 2 p.m. “Plus, adding the rush hour dumping of traffic onto the same route by the ferry terminal, it becomes an insane traffic bottleneck every day.”

The traffic to the bridge has had a ripple effect. The northbound commute from 3:30 to 7:10 p.m. on Highway 101 from Marin City to north of Tamalpais Drive in Corte Madera has been ranked as 15th worst in the Bay Area. Drivers in that pocket lose 2,040 hours a day in traffic, according to Metropolitan Transportation Commission figures.

Some of the cause is traffic waiting on northbound Highway 101 to get onto the bridge.

So what about a freeway-to-freeway link, possibly near Bellam Boulevard where there would seem to be a potential tie-in to existing I-580 eastbound lanes?

“The Transportation Authority of Marin is very interested in supporting such a project,” said Dianne Steinhauser, who heads that agency. “We think it’s a very important candidate for our toll corridor.”

She noted that to finance the connector and other regional projects, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission is considering a measure to raise tolls to pay for work, although an official plan has not been brought forward.

In 1988 and 2004, Bay Area voters approved Regional Measures 1 and 2, which increased tolls on state bridges for transportation projects. The next iteration would likely be dubbed Regional Measure 3, but wouldn’t probably wouldn’t be on a ballot until 2018 at the earliest. The Marin connector project — which doesn’t have a price tag — would also likely require some local, state and federal funding.

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“It is a project that would make sense,” said John Goodwin, Metropolitan Transportation Commission spokesman. “But it would be expensive and it is a ways away.”

In the short-term, Assemblyman Marc Levine, D-San Rafael, and the commission are working on a plan to reopen a third eastbound lane on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge.

Under the plan, the traffic lane would be opened late next year. While opening the lane may sound simple, under state and federal rules environmental analysis is required. In addition, new signs will have to go on the span and a retaining wall on the Contra Costa County side must be set back to create added space for cars heading off the span.

The third lane on the bridge would be open to motorists during the weekday evening commute. Project elements include reconfiguring the Main Street on-ramp from the San Quentin Village area with a retaining wall to improve the traffic merge with the new lane, and replacing pavement on the bridge approaches to accommodate heavier traffic loads, according to the commission.